For tonight’s special presentation on our talk show Straight from the Sky, we bring you Social Networking, Facebook & Blogging: The Medium of the Future is Here! I’m now a 25-year veteran in the media and my life evolves around the print, broadcast and television media which is considered the “4th Estate” after all, in a democratic nation like the Philippines, there are three pillars of the government, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary and the media is the accepted 4th member in this group.
Three years ago… a new medium has been invited into many media pres conferences… they are from social networking or Facebook or Twitter advocates or bloggers who somehow is now considered “mainstream” by PR organizations. I call this medium, “The 4th Estate of the 4th Estate.”
Today, the highly controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is being opposed by what we call netizens… people who are wired on the Internet because of the Libel provisions that were inserted in the law. The howl first came from them; the mainstream media and even the various legal organizations came all out against this newly approved law.
Tonight, we have with us Bjornson Bernales, Vice-President Internal of the Cebu Bloggers Society, Inc. and Nancy Cudis, Vice-President External of the Cebu Bloggers Society, Inc. to talk about this new medium. No, this is not a show against the Cybercrime Law; rather we touch on very little about this subject. Rather this is a show about this medium of the future that is already with us today. So watch this very interesting show on the 4th Estate of the 4th Estate on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00PM with replays on MyTV Channel 28 on M-W-F.
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With angry and indignant netizens from the social networking sites in a full blown attack against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 signed by Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III in Sept.12, 2012, who are now being joined by petitions from the mainstream media and even legal organizations like the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), one would think that no less than PNoy would have distanced himself from this very controversial law or even drop it like a hot potato. More so that the 2013 elections are literally around the corner.
But it seems that PNoy is so overconfident that he can breeze through this crisis, where netizens and the mainstream media have shown their indignation against this law, where even mainstream media was seeking the decriminalization of libel. For those who never experienced being filed a libel case, you may not understand how we feel.
I still have a libel case that has been dragging in the last three years because of our snail’s pace justice system. But it is quite comforting to know that many netizens who have never tried being filed a libel case are already showing their righteous indignation against the law signed by PNoy. So let’s ask ourselves… how come Pres. Aquino is so confident about this?
Any President with a right political mind would most certainly avoid such a confrontation in a soon-to-be-here election season. But as I’ve been writing in the past months, this over confidence by Pres. Aquino can only be traced to the plan of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to use or as I’ve already said… “misuse” the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS). I already wrote in this corner that in my book, the PCOS machine means “Electronic Dagdag-Bawas! Yet even with that article, I did not elicit any comments from any Comelec official. They “Dead-Mah” me!
We’ve already written a month back that during the budget hearing for the Comelec, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano questioned no less than Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes about the excessive purchase of furniture for their Baguio mansion. Chairman Brillantes insisted that those furniture (a King size bed at P94,000 each and a Queen size at P85,000 each) were not “overpriced”… they were just luxurious!
Such a reckless statement by someone perceived to be an enemy of Pres. Aquino would have triggered an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman. But the Comelec Chairman is an Aquino pal and therefore impervious to Senate investigations. That means, there will be a payback from the Comelec and as I’ve suspected… it has to be the PCOS machines. So please don’t say that I didn’t warn you politicos who are against the Liberal Party.
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I’m proud to announce the arrival of my 4th grandchild and 2nd grandson and 4th child of Atty. Jennoh & Fara Tequillo…named Baby Jesus Ignacio Avila-Tequillo who was born yesterday at 11:15AM at 6.2 lbs at the Cebu Doctors Hospital. His brother, Miko 11-years old, Keena 7-years old and Jenna at 2-years old join us with their Lola Eve in the arrival of their youngest sibling.
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com.